Curriculum
Reading Street is designed to help teachers build readers through motivating and engaging literature, scientifically research-based instruction, and a wealth of reliable teaching tools. The reading program takes the guesswork out of differentiating instruction with a strong emphasis on ongoing progress-monitoring and an explicit plan to help with managing small groups of students. In addition, Reading Street prioritizes skill instruction at each grade level, so teachers can be assured they will focus on the right reading skill, at the right time, and for every student.
Daily Problem-Based Interactive Math Learning followed by Visual Learning strategies deepen conceptual understanding by making meaningful connections for students and delivering strong, sequential visual/verbal connections through the Visual Learning Bridge in every lesson. Ongoing Diagnosis & Intervention and daily Data-Driven Differentiation ensure that enVisionMATH gives every student the opportunity to succeed.
Scott Foresman Social Studies offers a variety of ways for students to think critically about key concepts—through reading, hands-on activities, and technology—so they actively experience the world they live in. Providing multiple ways to experience the content allows teachers and students to personalize learning.
Measurable Outcomes
• Use of the scientific method to interact with the world in a scientific way: observing, questioning, hypothesizing, predicting, investigating, interpreting, and communicating
• Demonstration of critical thinking skills
• Understanding of scientific core knowledge, principles, and procedures
• Ability to integrate physical, earth, and life sciences to understand natural phenomena
• Effective writing and speaking skills
Assessment Tools
• State-mandated tests
• School-designed tests
• Teacher-developed assignments, tests, and activities
• Portfolios
• Lab Reports & Journals
• Exhibits & Presentations
• Projects
The Texas Reading Street leveled readers are leveled according to the Guided Reading (GR), DRA™, and Lexile® scales. These leveling systems function as tools to evaluate text difficulty and student reading ability. While each scale is a useful instructional resource, your personal knowledge of students’ abilities, interests, and skills should be an equally important part of matching books to students.
Leveled readers increase in difficulty within a grade level and across grade levels. The Leveled Reader Teaching Guides include detailed lesson plans and student practice pages to ensure that students at all levels master target comprehension skills and strategies. Teachers can also use the Scott Foresman Online Leveled Reader Database to search more than 1,000 Scott Foresman leveled readers by level, content area, comprehension skill, and TEKS to find just the right book for each student.
“‘Leveling’ is not an exact science. There are many variables to take into account in determining text difficulty.
A text’s demands and supports cannot be reduced to a mathematical formula. The concepts of ‘easier’ and ‘harder’ must always be understood in relation to the complex and interrelated text factors...what’s more, myriad student factors impact text readability as well.”
—Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, Guiding Readers and Writers: Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy
Science
Elementary school reaches the greatest number of students for a longer period of time during the most formative years of the school experience. Effective elementary science instruction engages students actively in enjoyable learning experiences. Science instruction should be as thrilling an experience for a child as seeing a rainbow, growing a flower, or holding a toad. Science is not just for those who have traditionally succeeded in the subject, and it is not just for those who will choose science–related careers. In a world of rapidly expanding knowledge and technology, all students must gain the skills they will need to understand and function responsibly and successfully in the world.